No fewer than 25, 794 Nigerians may have died in violent crises in the first four years of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The figure was released by the Nigeria Security Tracker, a project run by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit think tank specialising in United States foreign policy and international affairs.
The number represents those killed by different insurgent groups and Boko Haram in northern Nigeria, herdsmen, and people who died due to extra-judicial activities of the military.
From June 2015 to May 2019, when the President had his first tenure, our correspondent observed that Borno suffered the highest casualties recording 9,303 deaths. The state was followed by Zamfara (1,963) and Adamawa (1,529).
Others captured in the map are Kaduna (1,488), Plateau (771), Taraba (649), Benue (1,642), Niger (252) Rivers (730), Cross River (467), Ogun (301), among others.
Graphical illustration revealed that the highest casualties were recorded in July 2015 (1,299) and January 2019 (1,077).
Within the four years’ timeline, members of the Boko Haram sect were responsible for 5,598 deaths, while sectarian violence, including the herdsmen-farmers crisis, led to 4,917 deaths.
State actors alone, including the military, were said to have killed 4,068 people.
During the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan (June 2011 to May 2015), a total of 34,884 people were reportedly killed across the country.
The highest record of casualties was in March 2014, when 3,456 Nigerians were killed.
Boko Haram and the military were jointly responsible for 12,765 deaths.
The Council on Foreign Relations, while explaining the methodology behind the data, said it relied on media reports.
The report said, “The Nigeria Security Tracker tracks violence that is both causal and symptomatic of Nigeria’s political instability and citizen alienation. The data are based on weekly surveys of Nigerian and international media.
“The data start with May 29, 2011, the date of Goodluck Jonathan’s inauguration as president. It was an event that highlighted the increasing bifurcation of the country on regional and religious lines. The NST is updated weekly.
“Relying on press reports of violence presents methodological limitations. There is a dearth of accurate reporting across certain regions, death tolls are imprecise, and accounts of incidents vary. There is the potential for political manipulation of media. Given these limitations, the NST makes every effort to collect information from multiple sources. Nevertheless, NST statistics should be viewed as indicative rather than definitive.”
Also, four people including a soldier were confirmed dead yesterday following a fresh attack in Riyom Council Area of Plateau State by gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
Our correspondent gathered yesterday that the attack on the remote Kagboro community took place around 12 pm on Monday and lasted for several hours which accounted for the high level of destruction in the community.
Villagers said that over 300 herdsmen invaded the village, shooting indiscriminately and burning houses including a government-owned clinic in the community after they overpowered men of the vigilante group who tried to resist them.
Meanwhile, at least, 13 people are said to have been killed and houses burnt in two separate attacks in Ardo Kola and Donga local government areas of Taraba State.
Our correspondent gathered that six people were killed in Janibanibu in Ardo Kola LGA near Jalingo when armed herdsmen invaded the village at about 6pm on Monday while seven were killed in an ambush at the border between Wukari and Donga LGAs.
The Parish Priest of St. John the Baptist Pastoral Area, Janibanibu, Rev. Fr. Cyriacus Kamai, told newsmen that seven people were killed in the village by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
“I am in Janibanibu village now, we have recovered six bodies, and we are making efforts to give them mass burial with the support of the soldiers who are with us in the village.
It would be recalled that Kona women, yesterday, staged a massive protest against the continued attacks on their communities and killings of their people by armed herdsmen.
The women took the protest walk from Kona village to Jalingo, the city centre.
Similarly, suspected Boko Haram jihadists have overrun a military base and looted a nearby town in Borno State, security sources and residents said, yesterday, the latest of such attack in the restive region.
The raids came a day after 30 people were killed last Sunday in a triple suicide bombing in the region that also bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram.
Boko Haram’s decade-long campaign of violence has killed 27,000 people and displaced about two million in Nigeria.
Late last Monday assailants, arriving on nine armoured trucks, stormed into the military base outside Gajiram village, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the Borno State capital, Maiduguri.
They were suspected to be from IS-affiliated Boko Haram faction known as the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
“They dislodged troops from the base after a fight,” a security source said.
“We don’t know the extent of damage and looting in the base. An assessment is being carried out”.
It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
Residents said the Islamists drove into the town after sacking the base and looted shops, shooting into the air.
Their presence forced residents to flee into the bush while others shut themselves in their homes.
“The gunmen drove into the town around 6pm (1700GMT) after overpowering soldiers in the base,” Gajiram resident Mele Butari said.
“They stayed for almost five hours. They broke into the shops and looted food supplies and provisions,” he said.
“They didn’t hurt anyone and they made no attempt to attack people who fled into the bush or hid indoors”.
Soldiers were seen returning to the town from the bush, yesterday morning.
Traffic on the main road through Gajiram was suspended as soldiers assessed the damage in the base, said residents who returned to the town.
Gajiram lies on the highway linking Maiduguri and the garrison town of Monguno, 55 kilometres away.
Gajiram and the nearby base have been repeatedly attacked by the insurgents.
In June, last year, ISWAP raided the same base, killing nine soldiers.
ISWAP has targeted dozens of military bases since last year, killing scores of soldiers.
Last week, several troops were killed in an ISWAP attack on a remote base in Kareto village, near the border with Niger, according to military sources.
Last Sunday’s suicide bombings occurred in Konduga, 38 kilometres from Maiduguri.
The attacks appeared to be the work of a Boko Haram faction loyal to long-time leader, Abubakar Shekau.
Boko Haram violence has spilled over into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting formation of a regional military coalition to defeat the jihadist group.
Also, Reverend Father Isaac Agabi, who was abducted last Sunday by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen, has regained his freedom.
Agabi, who is the priest in charge of Holy Name Catholic Church, Ikpeshi, in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State, was kidnapped along Auchi-Igarra road at about 5.00 pm, while on his way back to the parish.
It was gathered that he ran away from his abductors in the early hours of yesterday.
The Director of Communication, Catholic Diocese of Auchi-Igarra, Fr. Peter Egielewa, confirmed Agabi’s escape to newsmen in Benin.
Egielewa also confirmed that no ransom was paid to secure the release of the victim from his abductors.
He disclosed that Agabi escaped from the kidnappers when they slept off in the night.
“No ransom was paid. He actually escaped in the night when the kidnappers were asleep. He came out of the bush and was able to come home, no ransom was paid”, said.
The Edo Police spokesman, DSP Chidi Nwabuzor, could not be reached for comment, as calls made to his mobile phone were not answered.
However, leaders of the kidnappers who abducted Agabi have been allegedly nabbed by youths of Ikpeshi, in Akoko-Edo.
Similarly, six persons were said to have been killed in an attack launched by suspected herdsmen Monday night on Janibanibu community under Ardo Kola local government area in Taraba state.
This came as hundreds of Kona women yesterday took to the streets to draw attention to the continuous killings of their husbands and children.
The aggrieved women who were dressed in black to mourn the deceased decried the encroachment of their ancestral homes by armed marauders.
They also demanded the release of their youths who they claimed were arrested by security operatives. The procession which started from Kona terminated at Nukkai, a suburb of Jalingo.
However, our correspondent observed that KasuwanBera, a popular market in the metropolis was a shadow of itself, as most traders who live in the sacked villages have deserted it.
Security operatives were also seen around ATC, KasuwanBera among others maintaining law and order. The assault which raised tension and led to the imposition of 14 hours curfew late Monday night by the state government.